Digital Commons Network^™

How Quality Of Paternal Relationship Impacts Depression Development In Adulthood, Rachel Lane

Psychology Student Works

Previous studies show that paternal involvement directly correlates to a decrease in the child’s probability of developing a mental illness (O’Gara, et.al. 2019). Research shows, the more supportive and the more affection a parent gives, the less likely a child is to develop depressive tendencies (Del Barrio, et. al. 2016) There is a gap in investigating whether or not having a loving father postpones the age at which someone is diagnosed with depression. This study provides insight into paternal closeness and the age at which someone is diagnosed with depression.

The Association Between Promiscuity And Marital Satisfaction, Shelby Kate Christopher

Psychology Student Works

Research has suggested that premarital cohabitation is linked to a heightened risk of divorce and dissatisfaction if it occurs with someone other than the marriage partner (Teachman, 2004). The number of partners is linked to marital dissatisfaction for both men and women (Legkauskas & Stankevičienė, 2008). Involvement in church groups is linked to a 5x increase in likelihood of abstinence (Paul et al, 2000). Previous studies have used small sample sizes with little diversity and few men. However, my research will use a large, diverse sample size with both men and women.

The Association Between Religiosity And Alcohol Use In Adolescents, Daphny Vang

Psychology Student Works

Research has found that the age and strength of religion directly correlate to the level of alcohol consumption(Mason & Windle, 2002). Previous studies show that adult women with stronger religious beliefs consume less alcohol compared to those with weaker religious beliefs (Mattila & et al., 2001). There is a gap in investigating the relationship between religiosity and alcohol use in adolescents. This study provides insight into the relationship between religiosity and alcohol consumption with adolescents.

The Relationship Between Adults Education Level And Their Mental Health Status, Kelsey Bergan

Psychology Student Works

Research has shown that those with a higher education are more likely to seek out sources to help them with mental disorders (Ibrahim, et al., 2019; Neimeyer, et al., 2011). Previous studies have found that students with a lower GPA show signs of depression, anxiety and eating disorders (Eisenberg, Globerstein & Hunt, 2009). There is a gap in investigating the relationship between education level and an adult’s mental health experiences. This study will provide insight to the relationship between an adults education level and their mental health.

The Relationship Between Adolescents’ Participation In Religious/Spiritual Activities And Mental Health As An Adult, Tiara Lamb

Psychology Student Works

Many receiving mental health treatment across the U.S. see spirituality and religion as very helpful in supporting their mental state (Oxhandler et al., 2021). How often black Americans attended church in adolescence is related to how as a young adult they could spiritually handle mentally stressing situations (Alexander, 2017). There’s a gap in previous studies because most of them study specific groups rather than using a representative sample of the U.S. In addition, there is a lack of studies investigating the relationship between adolescent religiosity/spirituality and adult mental health. This study uses a representative sample and investigates the association between …

The Association Of Maternal Relationships And Acts Of Violence In Adults, Cameron Shores

Psychology Student Works

Through research it has been found that people who do not feel close to their parents are more likely to react with violence (Cano-Lozano et al., 2020). Studies have also shown that people who reported adverse relationships as children, tend to have more violence-related outcomes (Duke, 2010). There is currently a gap in explaining the association between maternal closeness and violent tendencies. This study is meant to help fill that gap and bring cognizance to the relationship between maternal closeness and violence.

Empirically Adjusted Weighted Ordered P-Values Method, Wimarsha Jayanetti, Sinjini Sikdar, N. Rao Chaganty

College of Sciences Posters

Recent advancements in high-throughput technologies have enabled simultaneous inference of thousands of genes. With the abundance of public databases, it is now possible to rapidly access the results of several genomic studies, each of which includes the significance testing results of a large number of genes. Researchers frequently aggregate genomic data from multiple studies in the form of a meta-analysis. Most traditional meta-analysis methods aim at combining summary results to find signals in at least one of the studies. However, often the goal is to identify genes that are differentially expressed in a consistent pattern across multiple studies. Recently, a …

Hypothesis Testing Of Student's Mathematical Performance In Relation To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elizabeth Foster

Mathematics Senior Capstone Papers

The COVID-19 Pandemic affected everyone, especially schools and education due to the rapid switch from traditional face-to-face classes to online and hybrid classes. The goal of this study is to see how the pandemic affected students’ grades during distance learning when compared to before. Using hypothesis testing, we will analyze data from 13 sections of MATH 243 classes to determine if the averages went down during the pandemic, specifically in hybrid class settings. Based on the raw data of the test grades in relation to the COVID-19 Pandemic, a significant difference can be found in test scores before and during …

Factors That Relate To Academic Excellence, Matthew Lemoine

Mathematics Senior Capstone Papers

The American College Testing (ACT) provides university admissions offices a look into a student’s academic ability so that the university can determine admittance and scholarships. The premise of this study is to see whether this is the most effective way to determine academic ability, using the Logistic Regression Model. The data was collected from October 21, 2021 to December 31, 2021 at Louisiana Tech University. Using the Logistic Regression Model, predictions of academic excellence are obtained based on the parameters outlined in this paper. After the parameters for the Logistic Regression Model are calculated, conclusions can be drawn that the …

Statistical Analysis Of Home-Field Advantage In European Soccer, Francisco Simoncini

Mathematics Senior Capstone Papers

Home-field advantage in the sports world is commonly known as a huge factor in determining the final score of any sports game. By using a one-tailed, two-sample t-test, I am analyzing how playing at home generally affects a European soccer team’s performance. I am looking at how these performances are affected across three domestic leagues in Europe. I predict that when teams play at home, there will be a significant difference in their win ratio and goals scored.

Flood Risk Prediction In Southern Louisiana Using Support Vector Machines, Claire Dorsett

Mathematics Senior Capstone Papers

Flooding in Southern Louisiana is a growing concern as violent weather becomes more frequent. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Louisiana soils have become drier and annual rainfall trends have increased, which may lead to more severe flooding in the coming years. In light of this change in weather trends, flood prediction has become increasingly important for the public’s safety. The focus of this paper is to apply the Support Vector Machine (SVM), a machine learning technique, to classify flood risks based on water gage height, wind speed and direction, and time of the year. In this paper, the …

A Monte Carlo Analysis Of Seven Dichotomous Variable Confidence Interval Equations, Morgan Juanita Dubose

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Department of Psychological Sciences Western Kentucky University There are two options to estimate a range of likely values for the population mean of a continuous variable: one for when the population standard deviation is known and another for when the population standard deviation is unknown. There are seven proposed equations to calculate the confidence interval for the population mean of a dichotomous variable: normal approximation interval, Wilson interval, Jeffreys interval, Clopper-Pearson, Agresti-Coull, arcsine transformation, and logit transformation. In this study, I compared the percent effectiveness of each equation using a Monte Carlo analysis and the interval range over a range …

A New Application Of The Central Limit Theorem, Kenneth Winters

Selected Honors Theses

This paper discusses the Central Limit Theorem (CLT) and its applications. The paper gives an introduction to what the CLT is and how it can be applied to real life. Additionally, the paper gives a conceptual understanding of the theorem through various examples and visuals. The paper discusses the applications of the CLT in fields such as computer science, psychology, and political science. The author then suggests a new mathematical theorem as an application of the CLT and provides a proof of the theorem. The new theorem relates to expected value and probabilities of random variables and provides a link …

Math 672: Statistical Methods Ii, Dao Nguyen

GMAS Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Math 777: Seminar In Statistics: Theoretical Foundations Of Neural Network Learning, Instructor: Hailin Sang

GMAS Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Weather-Sensitive Walmart Sales Modeling, Stella Rodriguez

Honors Projects

Walmart operates thousands of stores in the U.S. and internationally with varying inventory and climates. During different weather conditions, demand for some products may increase or decrease, like umbrellas before a rainstorm. Since it is important for stores to not overstock or be out-of-stock of inventory, knowing how different weather conditions affect these weather-sensitive items would be vital for Walmart. This report details the process of data management, exploratory data analysis, modeling, and findings done on Walmart weather-sensitive sales.

Bayesian Credible Subgroup For Excess Zeroes, Daniel Nii Kwatei Quartey

Dissertations

A goal of subgroup analysis is to identify which subgroups of the population benefit from a given treatment. Traditional and also many recently introduced approaches to subgroup analysis that include statistical hypothesis testing of treatment-covariate interactions, prediction of personalized treatment effects via machine learning tree splitting algorithms, etc. do not explicitly address multiplicity issues. In this article, we extend the two–step Bayesian credible subgroups approach to assessment of heterogeneity in treatment effects and multiplicity-adjusted benefiting subgroup identification for zero–inflated count data, which are often encountered in medical and public health studies. Our approach is to conceptualize a zero–inflated Poisson regression …

Prognostic And Predictive Value Of Β-Blockers In The Eortc 1325/Keynote-054 Phase Iii Trial Of Pembrolizumab Versus Placebo In Resected High-Risk Stage Iii Melanoma, Oliver J. Kennedy, Michal Kicinski, Sara Valpione, Sara Gandini, Stefan Suciu, Christian U. Blank, Georgina V. Long, Victoria G. Atkinson, Stéphane Dalle, Andrew M. Haydon, Andrey Meshcheryakov, Adnan Khattak, Matteo S. Carlino, Shahneen Sandhu, James Larkin, Susana Puig, Paolo A. Ascierto, Piotr Rutkowski, Dirk Schadendorf, Rutger Koornstra, Leonel Hernandez-Aya, Anna M. Di Giacomo, Alfonsus J.M. Van Den Eertwegh, Jean Jacques Grob, Ralf Gutzmer, Rahima Jamal, Alexander C.J. Van Akkooi, Caroline Robert, Alexander M. M. Eggermont, Paul Lorigan, Mario Mandala

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background:

β-adrenergic receptors are upregulated in melanoma cells and contribute to an immunosuppressive, pro-tumorigenic microenvironment. This study investigated the prognostic and predictive value of β-adrenoreceptor blockade by β-blockers in the EORTC1325/KEYNOTE-054 randomised controlled trial.

Methods:

Patients with resected stage IIIA, IIIB or IIIC melanoma and regional lymphadenectomy received 200 mg of adjuvant pembrolizumab (n = 514) or placebo (n = 505) every three weeks for one year or until recurrence or unacceptable toxicity. At a median follow-up of 3 years, pembrolizumab prolonged recurrence-free survival (RFS) compared to placebo (hazard ratio (HR) 0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.47–0.68). β-blocker use was …

Simplified Ranking Model For The College Football Playoff Through Weighted Ranking, Edward Buckhouse

Senior Theses

This research project looks to create a better system to rank college football teams in playoff contention. It uses surveys of coaches to create a weighted guideline to evaluate wins and losses for each team. This constructs a value for adjusted wins that is based on coaches’ data but strays away from the inherent bias that any single coach would have when ranking teams. The resulting Top 25 were then compared to the College Football Playoff final regular season rankings to gauge the success of the new system. The Adjusted Wins system that was established properly picked 13 out of …

Associations Among Plant-Based Dietary Indexes, The Dietary Inflammatory Index, And Inflammatory Potential In Female College Students In Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study, Ghadeer S. Aljuraiban, Rachel Gibson, Leenah Al-Freeh, Sara Al-Musharaf, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James R. Hébert, Linda M. Oude, Queenie Chan

Faculty Publications

Background Saudi Arabian diets are transitioning to more Western dietary patterns that have been associated with higher levels of inflammation. Emerging evidence suggests plant-based diets are related to lower levels of inflammation; however, the definition of plant-based diets varies. Objective The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which an overall Plant-Based Diet Index (PDI), Healthy-PDI (hPDI), and Unhealthy-PDI (uPDI) vs Energy-Adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index correlate with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level. Design This was a cross-sectional study carried out at King Saud University. Data on dietary intake, anthropometrics, and hs-CRP were collected. Participants/setting Female students aged …

Survivability Analysis In The Shadow Of Apollo: Part Ii - Spacecraft Charging Vulnerability Near The Stable Earth-Moon Lagrange Points, Robert A. Bettinger, Nathan R. Boone, Nicholas S. Hamilton, Bryan D. Little

Faculty Publications

Though the reality of routine travel and sustained operations in space likely remains several decades away, the building blocks of space exploration and space system development necessary to realize this reality are currently being laid by peer, near-peer, and emerging space-faring nations. The pursuance of sustained cislunar space operations will necessitate a renewed examination of spacecraft survivability and the capability of spacecraft to avoid and/or withstand the natural and manmade environmental risks posed by this “new” ultimate high ground.

A Comparison Of Inference Methods In High-Dimensional Linear Regression, Imtiaz Ebna Mannan

Theses and Dissertations

Building confidence/credible intervals for the high-dimensional (p >> n) linear models have been the subject of exploration for many years. In this paper, we explore three specific setups. First, we look at the Bayesian paradigm for the LASSO model. A double-exponential prior has been applied to the regression coefficient and from that, a posterior distribution is derived to get the necessary quantiles to calculate the credible intervals for the regression coefficients. Second, we explore the de-sparsified LASSO estimates, and using its asymptotic normality, we calculate the confidence intervals for the model coefficients. Finally, we incorporate an adaptive LASSO model. To …

Predicting Lower Body Soft Tissue Injuries In American Football With Gps Data, Nicholas Tice

Theses and Dissertations

It is of utmost importance to sports organizations that they keep their players as healthy as possible and contributing to the success of the team. Advancements in technology and investments by sports clubs have allowed researchers to better understand the role of load management in high-level athletes to mitigate injury risk. Through GPS tracking data provided by a collaborating Division I American college football team, we seek to predict lower body soft tissue injuries in future training sessions and reduce the number of potentially avoidable injuries within the organization. The difficulty of analyzing the injury data set is that the …

Bright Light Treatment Of Combat-Related Ptsd: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Shawn D. Youngstedt, Christopher E. Kline, Alexandria Reynolds, Shannon K. Crowley, James B. Burch Ph.D., Nidha Khan, Seungyong Han

Faculty Publications

Introduction

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent consequence of combat with significant associated morbidity. Available treatments for PTSD have had limitations, suggesting a need to explore alternative or adjuvant treatments. Numerous rationales for bright light treatment of PTSD include its benefits for common PTSD comorbidities of depression, anxiety, and circadian misalignment and its relative ease of use with few side effects. The primary aims of this research were to examine the effects of bright light treatment for combat-related PTSD and associated morbidity. Materials and Methods

A randomized controlled trial was performed in N = 69 veterans with PTSD attributable …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of An Egg Intervention In The Nutritional And Food Security Status Of Infants And Toddlers From Rural Honduras, Aishat Adewoye, Mario Keko, Luke Roberson, Dziyana Nazaruk, Gisela Ramos, Laura Manship, Haresh Rochani, Asli Aslan, Ana M. Palacios

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Radium-226 Concentrations In Produced Water From Shale Gas, Tight Gas And Conventional Hydrocarbon Wells, Richard Frank Haaker

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

This study examined data from the United States Geological Survey Produced Water database, version 2.3 (USGS DB) and built models to estimate the concentration of radium-226 in produced water given the values of other predictor variables. The dataset had only about 254 observations that were useable. Although the USGS DB had up to 190 possible attributes, it also had extreme rates of missingness, and many of the candidate variables were highly correlated. Multiple imputation techniques were employed using the Mice, Hmisc, and RMS packages for the R language to deal with the missing data. A multiple linear regression and two …

Exploratory Analysis Of The Associations Between Neonicotinoids And Measures Of Adiposity Among Us Adults: Nhanes 2015–2016, Amruta M. Godbole, Sheniz Moonie, Courtney Coughenour, Cai Zhang, Aimin Chen, Ann M. Vuong

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Background: Toxicology studies suggest that neonicotinoids may be associated with adiposity development via thyroid hormone disruption and increased oxidative stress. Prior epidemiological studies report mixed results for the association between neonicotinoids and adiposity measures.

Objective: To examine the association between detectable concentrations of parent neonicotinoids (imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin) and neonicotinoid metabolites (5-hydroxy-imidacloprid, N-desmethyl-acetamiprid) with adiposity measures among US adults, and whether sex modifies the associations for neonicotinoid metabolites with adiposity.

Methods: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015–2016 data was utilized to estimate covariate-adjusted associations between detectable neonicotinoids and fat mass index (FMI), lean mass index (LMI), waist …

Are Long-Period Exoplants Around Cool Stars More Common Than We Thought?, Emily Jane Safron

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Kepler mission has been the catalyst for discovery of nearly 5,000 confirmed and candidate exoplanets. The majority of these candidates orbit Sun-like stars, and have orbital periods comparable to or shorter than that of the Earth, due to the selection bias inherent in the transit method and the limitations of automated transit search algorithms. We aim to develop a richer understanding of the population of exoplanets around the lowest-mass stars, the M spectral type. We are particularly interested in exoplanets with long orbital periods, which are difficult or impossible to find using standard transit search algorithms. In our study, …

Reliever-Triggered Inhaled Glucocorticoid In Black And Latinx Adults With Asthma, Alex Colon

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Program Review: Mathematics And Statistics Department, Katherine Kime, University Of Nebraska At Kearney Department Of Mathematics And Statistics Faculty & Staff

Academic Program Reviews

No abstract provided.